Not 2 minutes into the game tonight and Anderson Varejao had already recorded his first dunk, 25 seconds later and he added another dunk all over Dirk’s head this time to start a Cavalier 6-0 run. The Q is going nuts and you begin to think the Cavs may easily walk away with a win over the Mavericks. Dallas would regroup from the 6-0 lead by the Cavs to start the game by shooting their way back to steal the quarter and take a 9 point convincing lead, but this did not deter the Cavs.

Cavalier rookie, Kyrie Irving, led with a great performance and finished his 11th career 20 point game with 20pts of course, 2stls, and 4 rebounds. Anderson Varejao also added his normal overall stat stuffing performance with 17pts, 17rebs and 3ast.

Kyrie Irving Splitting Maverick Defenders

A relatively close game throughout, with the biggest lead being set by Dallas at 15 after a 6-0 run with 9 minutes left in the second quarter, but other than that the game stayed competitive. Each team making runs, only to be matched by the other but the Cavs would make one final run to top them all.

With roughly 4 minutes to go the ever improving Alonzo Gee made a fierce drive to the basket and finished with a dunk to cut the Dallas lead down to 2 points. After trading baskets Kyrie Irving made one of his nifty hesitation hop, skip drives to the basket and finished an effortless right hand reverse layup to put the Cavs up 1 with 2:35 tics left. Anderson Varejao would then answer that with a 6 foot floater in the lane to put the Cavaliers up 3, but Jason Terry would answer by knocking down two free throws to cut the lead back to 1. Only to be answered by the layup king himself, Kyrie Irving who responded with another reverse right hand layup almost exactly like first which put the Cavs up 3 to seal the deal and jump the Mavericks for once and for all.

A career night for Anderson Varejao did not end in a victory for the Cavaliers last night unfortunately. Anderson finished with 20pts, 20rebs, 2ast and 1 blocked shot last night as he was a constant motor for the Cavs all night and one of the few reason’s they had a chance late.

The Cavaliers played a less than stellar first half last night. The defense just looked to be completely scattered and panicked in the first half and Boston seemed to be getting just about whatever they wanted. To make matters worse they were also struggling to score. Scoring only 15pts in the 2nd quarter and ending the half with Andy leading all scorers with 14pts, with the Cavs down 51-39.

In the third quarter the Celtic’s Ray Allen came alive scoring 12pts 4/4 from the field 2/2 from beyond the arc, after being held scoreless in the first half. Things are looking very grim for the Cavs, at one point the lead was up to 22. Again the only bright spot was Mr. Varejao who ended the 3rd quarter, with 18pts and 15rebs, grabbing 8 boards in the 3rd alone. This did not lead to any extra scoring though; the Cavs struggled mightily to do so in the third and trailed 76-58 going into the 4th.

Now here is where the fun begins the 4th quarter. Just when you think the game is over the Cavs come storming back. I joked that they all most have taken 5 hour energy’s along with a Red Bull at the end of the third because this was an entirely different team on the floor. They tightened up the defensive pressure, just a wee bit and made every shot difficult for the Celtics.
With about 7:56 left on the clock the Cavs really started to make their run, with a long Jumper by Sessions at the top of the key, to cut the lead to 12, followed up with a runner by Irving to cut it to 10. Then a huge 3 ball by GEEEEE! To cut the lead down to 7pts…at this point the game is looking eerily similar to the game played on Sunday. To the point where I pause the game (gotta love DVR) and bring up the info to make sure.

The Cavs continued to chip away at the lead and after a nifty left hand layup by Kyrie, who finished the quarter with 13pts, 21 in the game, the lead has been narrowed all the way down to 2pts now. After a Turnaround jumper by KG the lead went back up to 4. The Cavaliers missed a series of jump shots after that, and to top it off 2 Paul pierce free throws sealed the deal for the Celtics. If the Cavs had played the entire game with the effort they played with in the 4th quarter, this is a walk away win for the Cavaliers.

Six of the 10 players that the Cavs played tonight hit three balls and the struggling Knicks had no answers for the outside heat brought on by the Cavaliers.

The Cavs played a very balanced game in all facets of the game. They played 5 starters and 5 bench guys and everyone who touched the floor scored. Out of the starters 4 of the 5 ended the game in double figures. Defensively everyone followed through with their assignments and kept their bodies between the ball and the basket.

The play of Andy Varejao on both ends of floor is what kept the Cavaliers going with his crazed efforts on the boards he lived up to his nickname… “The Wild Thing” I mean this guy was all over the place, all night. Andy ended the game with 10pts 16rebs 2blks 4stls and 4ast, killin’ the stat sheets!

Early in the game the Cavs had the pick and pop game going with Kyrie and Jamison, who started the 3 point movement, finishing 3 for 4 from beyond the arc and led the Cavs in scoring with 15pts. The Knicks kept it a game though with valid efforts to score in the paint ending the half with 44 points in the paint which was more points than they had the entire second half. Amare and Tyson basically had a dunk fest. Which gave them a 9 point lead but the Cavs buckled down on defending the paint and closed the 9 point gap to tie the game going into half time at 45.

Kyrie Irving started the second half “jivin” he had it going early after knocking down 2 freebies, followed that up by knocking down the go ahead 3 and finishing off the his brief one man run with good look to Varejao for a soft 10 foot jump shot. Continuing their solid defense to close the first half the Cavs maintained this in the second, causing the Knicks to: Take bad shots, miss easy shots and turnover the rock.

With about 4 minutes left in the third quarter Omri Casspi had one shining moment with a strong drive and had a left hand jam “he threw the hammer down” as Austin Carr would say, but he comes down 2 plays later and fouls Fields on a bail out 3. Fields makes 2 of 3 to cut the lead to 3 and it starts to look like the Knicks may turn it up but, Sessions hits a trey ball that lead to back to back jump shots by Samuels and the lead went back up to 5 to close the third.

In the 4th quarter it was pretty much all Cavs, who got big contributions from Gee off the bench who scored all of his 7 pts in the 4th as the Knicks had missed jump shot after missed jump shot after turnover and it started to boil over into frustration with 5:03 remaining when Tyson Chandler through a bow to Andy V out of frustration and was T’d up.

This is shortly followed by a slashing one hand dunk by Varejao; a steal by Varejao, which lead to a Jamison, put back layup. With the cap off play being a 2 handed stylish tomahawk dunk by Gee which was almost as stylish as the fanatic uni’s they were wearing. This is the perfect way to end the game and a 4 game losing streak.

Cavs fans should have known the honeymoon of going .500 would end.  The Cavs were .500 without beating any team that was .500 or better.  In other words, their schedule so far was fairly soft and they weren’t tested.  They will be tested in the coming weeks and if this past week is any indication, it could be pretty ugly.  They suffered their worst loss in the history of the franchise on Friday against the Bulls and Derrick Rose wasn’t even playing.  The next night, on the heels of a back to back, they had another crushing defeat to a playoff team, this time to the Atlanta Hawks.  This team is a go-to scorer away from contending with these teams, but they may as well be 4 pieces away the way they look.

Anthony Parker only played in 3 of the 4 games and totaled 7 points.  Yes, 7 points.  His D was also pretty bad, he got destroyed by Rip Hamilton and Joe Johnson obviously, but he also gave up 24 points to DJ Augustin, who was playing the 2 a good deal.  The one game he didn’t start, Boobie Gibson was able to contain monta Ellis.  On the other wing, Casspi has actually been picking it up a bit recently.  He is scoring over 11 ppg and grabbing 4.5 rebounds, and playing solid D.  He is still a below average scorer for a SF, but he is no longer a huge liability.

The only real consistent position right now has been PG.  Off the bench, Sessions has been good for a solid 8 points every game and around 4-5 assists.  In the starting position, Irving has been the Cavs only consistent scorer and the only scorer who scored at least 10 points in the last 4 games.  During this stretch, he is scoring 18.5 points per game and getting 4.5 assists which is still great, but he has cooled down a tiny bit from his hot streak.  This is still very impressive for a rookie, especially considering he is shooting very efficiently too.

Irving is the only scorer this team can rely upon.  Casspi has been consistent recently, but he isn’t good enough to be reliable.  Jamison can drop 19 one game and drop 4 the next, which is exactly what happened during this streak.  On the bench, Alonzo Gee is a nice scorer but streaky and Tristan Thompson has shown some promise but is still very far away in terms of being a reliable scorer.  The cavs 2nd most reliable scorer may be Anderson Varejao, which speaks to the offensive void on this squad.

Christian Eyenga has been called up from the D-League.  It is worth mentioning as Cavs news, but as a player he is fairly irrelevant now and not likely to help the Cavs.

Their schedule coming up is brutal, with 7 out of the next 8 teams they face being playoff teams from last year and the 9th team they face being the LA Clippers who are a legitimate playoff contender now.  The Cavs are still winless on the 2nd game of a back-to-back, but Byron Scott won’t make excuses.  They have 3 of those in the next 9 games and they face the Heat for the first game in 2 of those 3 (including the game tonight).

I would love to be optimistic, but don’t expect the Cavs to win much more than a couple games in the next 9.

The Cavs have gone 2-4 on this road trip and are 2-3 since the last article.  Considering the expectations of the team, this isn’t too shabby.  Coming into the road trip, they had faced a lot of teams that, like the Cavs, really sucked in ’10-’11.  The combined record of the 3 teams the lost to (Portland, Utah, and the Lakers) is 23-14, winning over 60% of their games.  While they got blown out by Portland, they were able to keep it close in the other 2 and were in both games in the 4th quarter.

The most impressive losing effort (if a loss is ever impressive) was the game vs. the Lakers.  On the 2nd game of a road trip back-to-back after 3 veteran starters had played 30+ minutes, the Cavs put up a valiant effort against one of the best teams in the league and came back to get within a few points of beating the Lakers in The Staples Center.  This was quite a feat considering how poorly the Cavs shot in that game.

 
Wins and losses don’t matter a ton to this team and in fact, some fans wold rather see a loss where the young players play well.  Losing means the Cavs would get a higher lottery pick and a better chance at that go to wing player they sorely are missing.  For Cavs fans, there is no shortage of ways to be pleased recently because the team is competitive and winning and their young players are playing extremely well right now.  Their 2 wins are against teams with an 8-17 record, but you should generally be able to be those bad teams.

The biggest reason the Cavs are being competitive is Kyrie Irving.  Irving was playing well, but he is playing at a very high level currently.  Over the last 5 games, he is averaging 20.4 ppg and 4.8 assists on 52.6% shooting, 37.5% from 3pt, and 94% from the 3 point line.  In short, his scoring right now is about as efficient as you can get.  It’s even more impressive if you just look at the last 4 games where Irving has scored 20 points in every game and shot over 50% from the field in every game including 64.7% against Phoenix where he posted 26 points, the most so far in his career.

On offense, the team really has been kind of Irving and Antwan Jamison.  Jamison has been really hot and cold, but scored 22 points at least 3 times in the last 5 games.  The other 2 games though he scored less than 10 and is very streaky right now.  The nice thing is that he is rebounding better and even in the game against Portland where he scored 3 points, he still contributed 11 rebounds.

The other Cavs rookie Tristan Thompson has been slower to heat up, but he has still played nice recently.  He has scored at least 7 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in the last 4 games.  He is also been solid at blocking shots and for a young post player, he has really limited his fouls recently, averaging 1.5 fouls a game over the last four games.  No one should have had the expectation that Thompson would come out as strong as Irving, but his offensive rebounding and shot blocking have been a nice surprise.

The rest of the team has been pretty steady.  Guys like Ramon Sessions and Anderson Varejao have been steady members of the team and the Cavs still are getting very little offensively from their wing players of Anthony Parker and Omri Casspi (though Casspi has looked slightly better as of late).  While the void on the wing is frustrated, fans should just sit back and enjoy the great play of Irving.

The Cavs have opened up after the lockout with solid performances and a record of .500.  At 3-3, they are showing some very legitimate promise early on in this young season.  Granted, only one game was against a playoff team from 2011 and all of the teams were under .500 in 2010-2011.  Still, we are talking about a .500 record posted by a team that was very competitive for the worst record in the NBA last year.  Before their recent loss to the Raptors, the Cavs had posted a record above .500, for the first time in 14 months.

The Cavs right now are an exciting and athletic bunch with some interesting pieces.  Their starting line-up features Kyrie Irving, Anthony Parker, Omri Casspi, Antwan Jamison, and Anderson Varejao.  So far on the season, Varejao is back to his old self after the injury and Jamison has recovered from a poor 2010-2011 and is scoring quite well.  Anthony Parker is shooting better than he did last year, but he is still mostly just a veteran leader on the floor who can play some D.  The new starters are a story of good and bad.  Casspi has been disappointing and isn’t shooting the ball enough or with enough efficiency, and he is getting into foul trouble.  On the flipside, rookie Irving is having a great start to the season posting 14.2 pts, 3.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists.  He is limiting turnovers while playing good D and making some highlight plays.

The Cavs are developing a really nice bench right now as guys like Alonzo Gee, Ramon Sessions and Tristan Thompson really come out with a lot of energy.  Sessions has improved his D and is a steady PG to stabilize a bench rotation.  Like Irving, he is limiting the turnovers, playing good D, and his shot is keeping the defense honest.  On his wing, Gee has been a nice complementary scorer and looks improved since his stint last year in Cleveland, especially handling the ball.  Thompson has been maybe the biggest spark off the bench, especially on D.  He is leading the team in blocks with a great 1.7 a game.  He still struggles with jump shots and from the free throw line, but his D has been great and he has been great at crashing the offensive glass.

The first 3 players off the bench are great, but the Cavs, like many teams out there, would severely struggle if they have to rely significantly on their 9th or 10th guys in the rotation.  Samardo Samuels is the best of the bunch and is a great low post scorer, but he is extremely turnover prone (4.5 per 36 minutes) and foul prone (7.3 per 36).  Ryan Hollins is just a big body, Harangody is a decent shooter who can play some D, and Eyenga is a good athlete, but none of these guys look that great.

Last year, the Cavs couldn’t shoot the ball, struggled to score, and couldn’t stop other teams from scoring at all.  This year, they aren’t great but they are shooting better, scoring better, and playing better D.

Surprises So Far:  Tristan Thompson’s energy.  Jamison and Gee’s Offense, Irving’s D, Anthony Parker’s shooting, Sessions’ 3 pt shot, defense and shooting overall

Disappointment’s: Omri Casspi, Christian Eyenga, ball handling and rebounding overall

With Thompson and Irving, this team is really going to be exciting to watch in the future.

With Friday being the anniversary of the LeBron decision, it got me to thinking.  What if Peyton Manning makes the same decision come the end of this lockout? What if for some crazy reason the franchise tag is not valid? What if Peyton decides to take his talents somewhere else? Does that not just make you shudder as a Colts fan? Me too!

I’m not quite sure where to start with this one.

First and foremost, tonight’s game against the Nets was one of the best showings of basketball Cleveland has put forth since probably the beginning of the season—until the end.

Antawn Jamison was flirting with a double-double as he started off hot in the first half, finishing the game with 26 points and 8 rebounds, but couldn’t get a basket to save his life during the crunch.

Daniel Gibson had a huge three late in the fourth, keeping the Cavs in the hunt for their first win since Dec. 18 against the Nets’ cross-river counterpart, but it came with no further adieu.

The true turning point of this game was in the third quarter, with about 6:40 to go. If you were watching this game, this is the point where New Jersey started really gaining momentum. They started getting into the swing of things, meanwhile on the other side of the court, Cleveland was starting to lose its touch.

The Nets nailed a few key shots, swinging the pendulum back their way. Jamison started struggling and J.J. Hickson was being overpowered down low. You could feel the Cavs starting to run out of the steam from the first half and the Pru center had a home team vibe to it, even if there were like nine people in there.

It was almost like a scene off of “I Love Lucy.” Things slowly started slipping away, little by little, then the bottom fell out. Right when there was a glimmer of hope (Cavs had just tied it up with a few ticks remaining), Brook Lopez nailed a two-step jumper, leaving 1.7 seconds on the clock Ohhh Lucyyy, I’m ho-ome. Even though Cleveland got the ball and had a last-second chance, you could feel that shot not going in. Sure enough, it didn’t.

I'm with Gibson. What a heartbreaker against an ailing Nets team, as the streak could have ended. Now it's at 17. (AP photo)

The loss comes to a struggling Nets team, one the Cavs really could have beaten. It was a better showing than that of the previous game (by the way, I realize I am eating my words on the last blog ‘The skid will end with Milwaukee’) and this team definitely needed a win going into Tuesday’s nightcap against Boston.

Cleveland will go into the Eastern Conference’s top dog’s house and try and do something near-impossible. Fortunately for the Cavs, the Celtics have just come off an embarrassing loss in Washington against a struggling Wizards squad. Reports are saying Shaquille O’Neal will be out for at least two games, so this will help a player like Hickson. But again, he’ll have to worry about Kevin Garnett.

Last time Cavalier fans saw it this dim, a “young” Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office and Joan Jett was rocking the radio with “I Love Rock’n’Roll.” A light at the end of the tunnel: the basketball uniforms have gotten a whole lot better.

So what if this Cleveland squad has the league’s worst record after starting off near-.500?

So what if these Cavs have dropped 24 of the last 25?

So what if Mo Williams is out for a couple of weeks?

Sometime, something will change for this team. And while the negativity keeps piling up, the losses keep coming (14 straight, but who’s counting), the injuries continually add stress to a group of five who seem lost on the court, it has to end sometime. So why not now? Why not in the Friday night showcase against the Bucks?

Alright, so it’s a bold statement to say “this streak will end right now!” But I’ve grabbed some notes for you fans to stay positive about this team at the half-way mark of this current disaster of a season.

1. The Cavs have won eight of their last nine against the Bucks. It’s always good to see a one-sided match-up, especially when it really is time to see a winner. Last time Milwaukee came to the Q, Mo Williams hit a game-winner as the buzzer sounded, with the final score of 83-81.

2. Cleveland is a place the Bucks have trouble finding a win. The last time Milwaukee was able to pull of a W at the Q was on Nov. 20, 2007 and they only won by four points. Before that, you have to go back to the 2004-05 season to find a Bucks victory in Cleveland.

3. Bambi sucks, Cleveland Rocks. OK, so it’s not a very legitimate reason, but c’mon, we have to find some high points. Have you ever been entertained in Milwaukee, besides all the beer? Ya. Me either.

4. Antawn Jamison has been on fire. Even if he is coming off an injury, it always helps to have a seasoned veteran you can trust with the ball. In the last five games, Jamison is averaging 19 PPG and is coming off a notable game against Phoenix, where he scored 23 points, 6 boards and 2 assists.

5. Losers help. I might have to use this stat a few times this season, but the Cavs have six of their eight wins against sub-.500 squads.

6. Bench battling. This is what the game is going to boil down to– the benches. Right now, the Cavs bench is better. Averaging 36.6 PPG and 14.2 RPG, compared with a 32.5/ 13.7 for the Bucks, Cleveland has a chance to pull out a win when it goes to the sixth through twelfth guys.

7. Lucky #7. On top of all the streaks being talked about, including the 14-straight losses, one is the six-straight home losses. What a better time to stop the skid than on Lucky #7?

8. Vegas, baby. When you’re stretching for reasons why your team can win, why not check the betting lines? Vegas.com has the Cavs as the favorite. ‘Nuff said.

J.J. Hickson is averaging 15.8 PPG and 11.3 RPG. He can be a dominant factor against the Bucks on Friday night.

9. Hey Hey J.J.! Hickson just came off his fourth double-double this season against the Suns. When someone like this is picking up, you gotta say “Hey Hey J.J.!” and hope he hears you… then he’ll say… well, probably nothing. Andrew Bogut usually has an edge over Hickson, but now is a good time to switch it up.

10. This thing has got to end sometime. No, seriously. It does. If it doesn’t happen against the Bucks, well, there’s always the next game.

So even if times have looked more promising and fans have been more positive, the Bucks are going to be victory number 9 for Cleveland. Why not break something so dark and dreary now?

As the tale goes: “Even a blind squirrel can find a nut every now and then.” Well, this Cavs team hasn’t had an acorn in quite awhile, so I’d say it’s about time.

The Cleveland Cavaliers extended an offer sheet to restricted free agent G Kyle Lowry with a 3 year contract with a 4th year player option, totaling at $24mil. He played point guard for the Rockets last year, but could play shooting guard as well, which is probably what the Cavaliers would use him as if they traded Delonte West. They also possess guards Williams, Green, Parker, Telfair and Gibson. Lowry averaged 9.1ppg and 4.5apg in 68 games with the Rockets last year, shooting .397 from the field. He was drafted in 2006 with the 24th pick by the Memphis Grizzlies. Houston had 7 days to match the offer, and did so today, thus retaining Lowry’s services at the guard position. They had previously commented that they would match offers to both Lowry and F Linas Kleiza.

PG Kyle Lowry averaged 9.1ppg, 4.5apg, 3.6rpg in an average of 24.3mpg with the Houston Rockets in the 2009-2010 season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers roster currently looks like this:

PG: Mo Williams, Daniel Gibson, Sebastian Telfair

SG: Delonte West, Anthony Parker (SF)

SF: Jamario Moon, Leon Powe (PF), Danny Green (SG)

PF:  Antawn Jamison, J.J. Hickson, Anderson Varajao (C)

C: None

The Cavaliers have been attempting to navigate through the bleak remaining free agent market after losing their star, LeBron James, and their former center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, to the Miami Heat. They have about 9 million dollars in salary cap room and 14.5 million dollars in trade money (resulting from LeBron James’ sign-and-trade to Miami), and possess no real starting small forward or center. They have been considering using some or all of that trade money by trading Delonte West, who makes $4.5mil this year, the final year of his contract. Anderson Varajao and  J.J. Hickson have also been previously mentioned as tradable, as they hold value with both their young age and talent. Antawn Jamison would be hard to trade, as no teams seem to be willing to absorb his $15mil that he is due this  coming year. This trading strategy seems to be the only way the Cavaliers can make a big upgrade anywhere, as all of the big name free agents have been signed.

The Cavaliers have also offered F Jawad Williams a deal that he is considering while vacationing in Las Vegas, NV.